Main Event

Big day at World Poker Tour (WPT) with 309 Day 1B entries seen at the flagship MAIN EVENT. At one point, host venue Crown Poker Club Hanoi had over 20 tables up and running. The event has now drawn a combined 439 entries and is very close to breaching its ₫12 Billion guarantee.

After the scheduled 14 levels of play, 47 remained, Three players bagged up stacks worthy of the chip leader status. Ha Van Thien was the largest at 102 bb, Khoa Anh with 101 bb, and Nguyen Manh Hung with 100 bb. Read up on the action via the live updates down below.

Date: October 13, 2023 Buy in is ₫30,000,000 (~US$ 1,230) Guarantee: ₫12,000,000,000 (~US$ 492,100) *Champion will also win a package to the $40 Million guaranteed WPT World Championship in December at Wynn Las Vegas

Day 1B: 309 entries (207 unique) / 47 advanced

The 47 Day 1B survivors combine with the 21 Day 1A survivors for 68 players into Day 2. They await the results of Day 1C (last starting day) before returning on Sunday, October 15 for Day 2. For those that have yet to qualify, this is the last chance to join. A♠ for the ₫12 Billion guarantee, it will be breached within minutes of Day 1C’s first level.

*You can view the WPT Vietnam - Day 2 Chip Counts in the Main Event Day 2 - Live Updates tab.

Lojack Aladin Reskallah raises and Ivanenko Sernii defends the big blind. At the flop 9♠ J♥ 4♠ , it’s check-bet-call. Both players check the turn J♦ . On the river 9♦ , check again by Ivanenko, Reskallah bets 28,500, Ivanenko tanks using up two time banks then calls. Reskallah opens T♦ 8♦ bluff, Ivanenko ships it with A♠ Q♥ .

Chips in play: 12,360,000

Starting stack: 40,000 Level intervals: 40 minutes (before reg closes) / 60 minutes (after reg closes)

Button Sandeep Chatlani raises 10,000 small blind Ngo Minh Tien three-bets all in (88,500), big blind Minh A Nguyen shoves with slightly less, Chatlani gets out of the way. Ngo is behind A♠ 5♣ to Nguyen’s A♣ T♠ . However, with the board running K♣ 3♣ 7♣ 5♠ K♠ , Nguyen is eliminated.

All in preflop, Deepankur Gupta Q♣ Q♦ , big stacked Nguyen Quang Huy A♥ K♣ , the board runs J♥ 2♠ 2♦ 5♥ T♠ . Gupta doubles up.

Jeerapong Sakulkit shoves for 78,000, John Jay Magadan shoves for 93,000, with no other takers, Sakulkit opens K♣ J♥ , Magadan has A♥ Q♣ . The board runs 3♦ 4♣ T♠ 4♥ K♠ for a pair on the river to Sakulkit to avoid elimination.

Cutoff Woo Young Lee opens 15,000, button Nguyen Van Duong calls, flop runs 8♦ 6♠ 9♦ . Lee c-bets 12,000, Nguyen raises 35,000, Lee shoves (254,000), Nguyen (136,500) tanks for 15 seconds then asks for a count. Nguyen is well covered and opts to risk it. He opens J♥ 9♥ top pair, Lee has 2♣ 2♦ . The turn 8♥ and river 4♥ is a double up for Nguyen.

Three-bet pot preflop leads to a board 9♥ 2♦ 2♣ and 64,500 in the middle. Romain Morvan shoves, Ha Van Thien calls, Morvan opens 7♥ 7♠ and is way behind Ha’s A♦ Q♥ . The turn J♠ and river J♣ Morvan busts as Ha ships it.

Blinds are up, 65 players remaining. Bagging time is at the end of Level 14. Nguyen Quang Huy dropped in chips but still leads with a very healthy 560,000 stack.

From lojack, Nguyen Duy Thuc opens, button Minh A Nguyen three-bets 24,500, Thuc calls, flop comes J♠ 4♠ Q♠ . Thuc bets, Minh shoves, Thuc calls and shows T♠ 9♠ flush, Minh has K♦ Q♦ top pair. With the turn 9♥ , Minh is drawing dead.

Utg+1 Lin Jian Wei raises 14,000, hijack Hanh Tran calls, button Thanh Nguyen three-bet 45,000, big blind Zheng Tian Hao four-bet shoves, Lin joins the shove, Tran folds, Nguyen makes it a three-way showdown.

Thanh Nguyen T♥ T♣ Zheng Tian Hao A♣ Q♠ Lin Jian Wei A♦ 9♣

With the board running 5♥ 6♣ 3♠ 8♠ 7♣ , Lin improves to a straight to ship a triple up. Nguyen takes the side pot and eliminates Zheng.

Utg Renato Villanueva Jr opens, lojack calls, hijack Manish Lakhotia three-bets 27,500, both players call. At the flop T♥ 4♥ 5♠ , Lakhotia c-bets 35,000, Villanueva check-calls, lojack folds. On the turn Q♦ , Villanueva with another check, Lakhotia sends out 55,000, Villanueva tanks using up two time banks then folds.

Cutoff opens 8000, button Lin Jian Wei three-bets 23,000, big blind Thanh Nguyen four-bet shoves 87,000, cutoff folds, Lin calls and shows A♠ T♣ . It’s a flip with Nguyen holding 9♣ 9♠ . The board runs 8♦ J♣ 4♣ Q♦ 6♣ for a double up to Nguyen.

All in preflop, Sandeep Chatlani J♣ J♠ is at risk and is flipping against Nguyen Duy Thuc’s A♥ Q♠ . The board runs 2♣ 5♦ 4♦ K♣ 7♦ , Chatlani’s pair holds for a double up.

From cutoff, Le Huy Thanh raises 8000, button Michael De Leon calls, small blind three-bets 42,000, Le four-bets all in, no callers.

Hijack Harry Tran opens 10,000, cutoff Nguyen Hong Quan three-bets 30,000, button Nguyen Duy Thuc calls, back to Tran who calls for a three-way to the flop J♣ J♦ 5♣ . Quan c-bets 40,000, Thuc calls, Tran check-folds. On the turn T♠ , Quan shoves, Thuc snap-calls. Quan has Q♠ Q♥ , Thuc dominates with A♦ A♠ , river comes K♥ . Thuc doubles up.

Blinds are up, 65 players remaining. Bagging time is at the end of Level 14. Nguyen Quang Huy maintains his lead with a massive 640,000 stack.

Sameer Agarwal opens from utg+1, chip leader Nguyen Quang Huy three-bets 17,000 from lojack, Agarwal flats. On the flop 5♥ 3♣ 8♥ , Agarwal checks, Nguyen c-bets 30,000, Agarwal tank-calls. On the turn 4♠ , Nguyen sends out 60,000, Agarwal uses one time-bank then folds.

From mid-position, Woo Young Lee raises 6500, big blind calls, flop comes 5♦ 7♦ 8♣ . A betting war follows leading to both players all in. Woo Young behind 5♥ 5♣ set against bigger stacked player’s 8♠ 8♥ set. No change on the turn 4♦ but with the river 5♠ , Lee lands the one-outer and ships a sick double up.

Utg+1 Aditya Agarwal raises 6000, utg+2 Nhat Nguyen three-bets 15,500, Agarwal calls. At the flop 6♠ J♠ 4♦ , Nguyen c-bets 25,000, Agarwal check-folds.

WPT Prime Vietnam champion Nguyen Duy Thuc opens 6500, big blind WPTDeepStacks champion Nguyen Van Phinh defends. At the flop 4♦ Q♣ A♣ , betting war leads to both all in. Phinh is ahead 4♥ 4♣ set, Duy A♥ Q♦ top two pair. Thuc misses the turn 3♣ and river 2♣ , Phinh improves to a flush to ship a double up.

Blinds are up, 75 players remaining. Bagging time is at the end of Level 14. Nguyen Quang Huy leads with a massive 610,000 stack. Running a far second rank is Nguyen Phuong Ngoc with 415,000.

PLO champion Hanh Tran opens 6000, cutoff Zheng Tian Hao calls, flop comes 4♠ 2♦ K♥ . Tran c-bets 8000, Zheng calls. On the turn 3♠ , Tran double barrels 20,500, Zheng calls again. Then on the river 7♦ , Tran shoves 76,000, Zheng tanks using up five time-banks then folds and shows K♠ .

Utg+1 raises 10,000, utg+2 Nguyen Van Duong (Duong Heineken) calls, flop runs 4♣ J♦ 9♥ . Aggressor c-bets 23,500 (leaving 500 chip) behind, Nguyen calls. On the turn J♣ , utg+1 puts the last chip in and Nguyen calls. All in player has A♠ K♠ , Nguyen ahead with T♣ T♦ , the river 5♠ is a scoop for Nguyen.

Lojack Vishal Ojha opens, hijack Nguyen Quang Huy three-bets, Ojha calls, flop comes Q♣ 6♦ A♣ . Nguyen c-bets and Ojha check-calls. Both players check the turn A♠ , then with the pot at 63,500, Nguyen jams the river 3♣ . Ojaha tanks using one time bank then calls. Nguyen has J♣ T♣ flush. Ojha busts and doesn’t show.

Utg Xiaosheng Zheng opens and hijack Jeerapong Sakulkit calls. At the flop and turn 7♥ 3♣ A♥ 7♣ . Zheng c-bets both streets and is called by Sakulkit. On the river J♥ , Zheng checks, Sakulkit bets 45,000, Zheng tank-calls. Sakulkit wins the pot with T♥ 8♥ flush.

Ha Van Thien opens from utg+1 and is called by button Amit Kaushik. When the board runs out 3♦ 6♠ K♠ 5♥ 6♣ , Kaushik bets the entire way, Ha check-calls each way then tanks on the river bet of 40,000. After using two time-banks, Ha calls, Kaushik opens J♦ T♦ bluff, Ha wins it with K♥ 7♥ .

On a flop {jh{}4h} 8♠ and 16,000 in the pot, hijack Hieu Ngo bets 5,000 and button Sameer Agarwal calls. On the turn 3♥ , Ngo fires 15,000 and gets the call again. The river K♠ , Ngo triple barrels 45,000, Agarwal folds.

Blinds are up, the forty-nine players fell on the first freezeout level. 98 players remaining with Russia’s Anatolii Gorbushin leading with 350,000 in chips. Bagging time is at the end of Level 14.

All in at the flop Q♦ J♥ 7♥ , largest stacked Jean Mathieu Malouch with K♠ K♦ , second stack T♦ 9♦ open ended, and shortest Jeerapong Sakulkit A♥ 3♥ flush draw. The turn 9♥ grants the flush, and with the river J♣ , Sakulkit triples up, Malouch takes a small side pot, and one player is eliminated.

Utg+1 Jean Mathieu Malouch raises 5000, three players call to the flop Q♥ 4♥ A♦ . Malouch c-bets 11,000, only utg+2 Minh A Nguyen calls. On the turn 6♠ , Malouch double barrels 20,000, Nguyen calls. On the river A♥ , Malouch shoves, Nguyen has less and risks it. Malouch is caught bluffing with 9♠ 8♠ and pays the double up to Nguyen’s K♥ Q♠ .

Mid-position raises 4000, Noel Llamedo calls, beside him Ho Koon Leong all in for his short 10,500, mp and Llamedo call. Both callers proceed to check down the board 3♥ J♠ 5♠ 3♦ J♣ . Leong’s A♥ {10} is good against T♥ 9♥ and Llamedo’s 7♥ 6♦ .

Button player raises 5000, small blind Marc Rivera shoves (31,500), big blind Zhi Wen Deng calls, button joins for a three-way. At the flop 3♦ J♠ 8♥ , Zhi shoves for a side pot but button folds. Rivera opens K♥ T♣ , Zhi ahead A♠ J♣ , the board completes turn 5♠ and river 5♥ .

Having just won the Super High Roller event, Victor Chong enters the Main Event and didn’t last long. Action folds to Chong on cutoff, he shoves hi 30,000 stack small blind Harry Tran calls. Chong has A♥ 8♥ , Tran J♠ J♦ , board runs 6♣ 6♥ T♣ 5♣ T♠ .

Third break is over and the new level has begun. That means registration has closed for Day 1B. The heat drew 309 entries (207 unique) with 147 players remaining. The day plays to the end of Level 14. Blinds now increase every 60 minutes.

Here are the chip leaders:

All in preflop, Alok Birewar with the nuts hole card A♥ A♠ against a player’s T♣ T♦ . The board runs 4♠ 3♣ 8♠ 6♣ 6♦ . After the count, Birewar is ahead to ship it and knock out one.

Nguyen Ngoc Dai picks up a decent pot against Jean-Mathieu Malouch with J♠ T♦ straight on a board K♦ Q♦ 7♥ 9♣ 8♣ ahead of K♣ Q♥ two pair. According to the talk at the table, by the turn, the pot was 23,000. Both checked then Nguyen bet 16,300 on the river and was called.

Blinds are up. 272 entries (202 unique). 202 tables running. Registration stays open until the start of Level 10, approximately 5:30pm.

On a turn board T♠ 2♦ 9♦ Q♣ and 14,400 in the pot, Yannick Leonard limps, Hua Wei Lin bets 15,000, Leonard shoves, Lin with less chips goes into the tank. Lin eventually calls and opens K♥ Q♦ top pair. Leonard is ahead K♥ J♥ and ships it on the river 3♥ . Lin speeds off and heads to the cashier to re-enter.

From utg+2, Nevan Chang opens, cutoff Nguyen Quang Huy three-bets 10,000, Chang four-bets 31,000, Nguyen calls. At the flop 2♠ Q♣ 6♠ , Chang c-bets 25,000 and wins the pot.

Utg+1 raises and button Xiasheng Zheng calls flop comes J♦ 5♥ 7♣ . Utg+1 c-bets 4000, Zheng raises to 8,000 and is called. On the turn 2♣ , option is checked to Zheng who bets 20,000 (putting utg+1 all in). Utg+1 tanks then folds showing K♠ J♠ . Zheng returns the gesture and shows K♥ J♥ while dragging in the pot.

Three way kicks off with utg+1 raising 5000, utg+2 Romain Morvan three-bets 32,000, cutoff, Manoj Pentakota four-bet shoves, back to utg+1 who risks it and Morvan joins in to make it a three-way.

Utg+1 9♣ 9♠ Romain Morvan K♥ K♦ Manoj Pentakota K♣ K♠

When the flop runs 5♣ A♣ Q♣ , Pentakota adds outs but with the 4♥ turn and T♥ river, the flush doesn’t materialize for a split pot and a bust out.

Blinds are up. 272 entries (202 unique). 202 tables running. Registration stays open until the start of Level 10, approximately 5:30pm.

Chip leaders:

Dao Minh Phu called us over to witness his all in on utg without cards having yet been dealt. Phu had a very playable 36,300 stack. After the cards were dealt, big stacked Nguyen Quang Huy called and opened A♥ T♥ , Phu had J♦ 4♥ . When the flop ran A♥ K♥ 8♠ , Phu got up to leave but then the turn T♣ and river Q♠ gave him the straight for a double up.

Second 15-minute break of the day is over, blinds are up. 244 entries (192 unique). 19 tables running. Registration stays open until the start of Level 10, approximately 5:30pm.

Chip leaders:

Vo Dinh Thanh raises with A♥ A♣ and is called by a short stack with K♦ Q♣ who meant to raise all in. At the flop Q♥ K♠ 9♣ , short stack is all in with two pair, however with the turn A♦ , Thanh improves to a set. With the river T♠ , Thanh ships it and boots out a player.

A rare sight, Pham Duy Anh was under pressure on a flop J♠ 2♦ 4♥ and a massive 42,600 in the pot. Nguyen pushed, Pham tanked using up four time-banks then finding the guts to call. Pham opens 5♠ 5♦ and was behind Nguyen’s Q♣ Q♠ . The turn { 3c} and river Q♦ were no help for Pham.

Blinds are up, 204 entries (172 unique). 18 tables running. Registration stays open until the start of Level 10, approximately 5:30pm. Registration stays open until the start of Level 10, approximately 5:30pm.

More stars have pulled up seats during the past two levels. Among them were Nevan Chung, Jereld Sam, Hyun Sup Kim, Ha Van Thien, Romain Morvan Sparrow Cheung, Yannick Leonard, Nguyen Nang Quang, Hua Wei Lin, Nguyen Quang Huy, and Vietnam Triton champion Dao Minh Phu.

Blinds are up, 186 entries (161 unique). 17 tables running. Registration stays open until the start of Level 10, approximately 5:30pm.

Down to 4400, Minh A Nguyen all in on a flop T♠ 5♥ 7♥ , as the board completes A♦ and 8♦ , he busts holding 6♣ 5♣ against Nishant Sharma’s A♥ 9♥ .

Festival side event winner Vu Van Lich was seen down to 1900 in chips and pushed with 6♣ 4♣ . Jerome Sgorrano sent him to the rail with A♠ 9♥ on a board J♠ Q♣ T♣ A♥ Q♥ .

Blinds are up, 144 entries (134 unique). 15 tables running. Registration stays open until the start of Level 10, approximately 5:30pm.

Utg short stacked player all in for 2,400, utg+2 Noel Llamedo, cutoff Terry Gonzaga, and hijac Dinh Xuan Dinh call. At the flop A♠ K♥ K♠ , Llamedo bets 1,000, Gonzaga calls, Dinh folds. On the turn A♥ , Llamedo continues with a 3,000 bet, Gonzaga quickly folds. Noel Llamedo has A♦ T♠ full house, all in player with K♣ 9♦ . The river 6♦ is not the one-outer for utg to get up and go.

12:35: Bubble bursts at the Super High Roller Level 20,000-40,000 ante 40,000

Bubble bursts at the Super High Roller with Yuhang Chen eliminating Yeh Hung Wei. The hand opens with a min-raise by Chen, small blind Yeh shoves, Chen calls. It’s a flip with Yeh A♥ K♣ and Chen J♣ J♥ . The board runs 5♦ J♦ 4♣ A♠ 3♦ . Yeh is eliminated.

The final 9 players are now in the money and are each guarantee ₫199,500,000 (~$8,150). Up top is a whopping ₫1,993,000,000 (~$81,420). Watch the race via the livestream on CPC YouTube channel.

Chips in play: 16,250,000

Blinds are up, 102 entries (101 unique). Registration stays open until the start of Level 10, approximately 5:30pm.

On a turn board K♣ Q♦ 9♥ 6♦ and a pot of 22,400, Michael De Leon and Yao Yadi are all in. De Leon has A♠ A♦ , Yadi J♣ T♣ straight. De Leon is drawing dead.

First level has quickly gone by with 74 entries (73 unique). That means, no more hoodies for today. Next chance to snatch up one those exclusive cool merchandise is at Level 1 of Day 1C on Saturday, October 14. 2023.

Lee Woo Young had already dropped to half stack by the time we caught him all in holding A♦ Q♥ on a board 2♥ 9♥ T♣ . He was up against Pham Duy Anh who was ahead with J♣ 2♣ . Both improved on the turn J♦ with Pham now at two pair. When the river came down K♣ , Lee celebrated his straight for a double up.